There are several reasons that ink-jet printing has become a popular way of recording images on various media surfaces, particularly paper. Some of these reasons include low printer noise, capability of high-speed recording, and multi-color recording. Additionally, these advantages can be obtained at a relatively low price to consumers. Though there has been great improvement in ink-jet printing, accompanying this improvement are increased demands by consumers in this area, e.g., higher speeds, higher resolution, full color image formation, increased ink stability, etc.
As new ink-jet inks and print engines are developed, there are several traditional characteristics to consider when evaluating the ink in conjunction with a printing surface or substrate. Such characteristics include edge acuity and optical density of the image on the surface, gloss, black to color bleed control, dry time of the ink on the substrate, adhesion to the substrate, lack of deviation in ink droplet placement, resistance of the ink after drying to water and other solvents, long term storage stability, and long term reliability without degradation. Additionally, ink-jet media substrates with micro-porous type coating can show increased blurriness, bleed, hue shift, or halo effect of printed images when stacked over a period of time due to destabilization of the inks of the printed image. Accordingly, investigations continue into developing printed photo media that has excellent image characteristics with improved printed image stability.